"Guinea pigs have a strong need for social contact with other guinea pigs. Social isolation is a serious disturbance for them. In our institution it is a rule to group-house the animals, unless an experiment specifically requires single-caging, for example when the subject has to be tethered. " ----- Sonja Banjanin, Departmentof Physiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
"In summary, social-housing is the most species-appropriate living environment for guinea pigs. If a research protocol requires single-caging, guinea pigs should always be able to maintain visual, auditory and olfactory contact with other guinea pigs to buffer the stress of social deprivation." ----- Viktor Reinhardt, Animal Welfare Institute, Washington,USA
Guinea-pigs need the social environment to guarantee their behavioral health, safeguard their physiological well-being (Sachser and Lick, 1991; Fenske,1992), and assist them to cope with circumstances of confinement(Canadian Council on Animal Care, 1993).
Guinea pigs require considerable socialisation to acquire the skills necessary to build up stable social structures. If rearing conditions are inadequate this creates conditions of social instability and extreme endocrine changes occur. -----Sachser N, Lick C 1991. Social experience, behavior and stressin guinea pigs. Physiology and Behavior 50, 83-90
Isolation also affects the adrenal glands, and it can cause excessive eating and drinking in rhesus monkeys, decreased leukocyte counts in mice, decrease in circulating lymphocytes and alterations in response to drugs and poisons in rats. ---- Fox MW 1986. Laboratory Animal Husbandry: Ethology, Welfare and Experimental Variables. State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
Isolation can also cause increased blood pressure and hypertension in rats ---- Claassen V 1994. Neglected Factors in Pharmacology and Neuroscience Research. Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands
"In female guinea pigs social support can be provided by social partners. In contrast to males, however, not only the bonding partner is able to reduce the female's stress responses, but also a familiar conspecific, though in a less effective way." ---- Kaiser S, Kirtzeck M, Hornschuh G, Sachser N 2003. Sex specific difference in social support - a study in female guinea pigs. Physiology and Behavior 79, 297-303
All rodents are distressed when they are kept alone, perhaps not to the same degree as dogs or monkeys, but they are distressed nonetheless. To this very day, I feel for every rat, mouse and guinea pig who had to live in our facility without contact with another companion. ---- p.6, 2007, Making Lives Easier for Animals in Research Labs, Published by the Animal Wel fare Institute, Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum http://www.awionline.org/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/4590